alcoa posts
FeedPosted Oct 29th 2009 1:30PM by Beth Gaston Moon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Alcoa Inc (AA), Options
Aloca (NYSE:
AA) kicked off earnings season a couple of weeks ago, and option players are now bulled up and looking slightly longer-term. The near-the-money December 13 calls
are active today, with nearly 8,000 contracts trading versus open interest of just 997.
One block of 4,450 contracts changed hands around 10:00 a.m., trading near the ask price at 69 cents per contract ($445,000 for the entire block). It is likely these were bought to open.
Also active in AA are the January 14 calls, where nearly 33,000 contracts have traded on open interest of 18,000. A couple of large blocks changed hands before 11:00 a.m., trading at the ask price as well, also indicative of buying.
While this isn't necessarily excessive volume for AA, it is notable that the shares have jumped nearly 8% today on little news, and this has spurred some call-buying activity right out of the gate. As the U.S. dollar has been gaining ground over the past few days, commodities have weakened. Today's stock and call-buying activity could be a sign that some investors are calling for a short-term bottom in the commodity group.
Beth works for The Options News Network (www.ONN.tv), which provides daily stock and options commentary. The above comments are not intended as trading advice.Posted Oct 10th 2009 12:10PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Alcoa Inc (AA), Clorox Co (CLX), Costco Wholesale (COST), Family Dollar Stores (FDO), Yum Brands (YUM), Marriott Intl'A' (MAR)
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Alcoa, Costco, Family Dollar, Marriott, PepsiCo, Yum! Brands ...
Posted Oct 7th 2009 6:30PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Forecasts, Good news, Competitive strategy, Employees, Market matters, Money and Finance Today, Alcoa Inc (AA), DJIA, Recession
Alcoa (NYSE:
AA) surprised the market this afternoon by posting its
first quarterly profit of the year.
The company credited recent cost cutting measures as the main reason for its profit of $77 million during the quarter (75.8% lower than the same period last year), or 4 cents per share excluding certain items. This was a nice surprise to Wall Street, which had expected to see the company show a loss for the quarter of 9 cents per share.
Continue reading Alcoa posts surprising third quarter profit
Posted Oct 4th 2009 12:30PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, PepsiCo (PEP), Alcoa Inc (AA), Family Dollar Stores (FDO), Yum Brands (YUM)
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) kicks off another earnings season this week, and analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for another net loss for the third quarter. Can we take that as a sign of things to come, or as a bellwether for the economy? Well, barring a big downside surprise, this will be the third narrower quarterly loss for Alcoa. But while Alcoa beat estimates in July, it missed them in April. Alcoa's shares, on the other hand, are up 145.6% since the March low, which is well more than twice as much either the Dow or the S&P 500.
During its third quarter, New York-based Alcoa continued restructuring efforts, remained a part of the DJIA Sustainability Index, and declared a quarterly dividend. It is expected to report a net loss of $0.12 per share for the three months that ended in September. That compares to a profit of $0.37 in the same period of last year. Third-quarter revenue is forecast to have fallen 38.3% to $4.5 billion. Analysts so far expect to see a profit in the fourth quarter, but not for the full year. Alcoa has missed earnings expectations in three of the past four quarters. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 20.0%, again much better than the S&P 500. The First Call consensus recommendation is to hold AA; CNBC concurs that now is not the time to buy. At $12.82, shares are 30.0% higher than three months ago, but 33.4% lower than a year ago.
Continue reading The week in preview: Another earnings season begins: Alcoa, PepsiCo, Monsanto ...
Posted Oct 1st 2009 11:40AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Alcoa Inc (AA), Analyst initiations
Analyst upgrades:
- Jefferies upgraded Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED) to Buy from Hold on expectations the company will be able to reach a settlement with the New York PSC Staff that will provide benefits to both ratepayers and shareholders. The firm raised its target on shares to $46 from $40.50.
- Keefe Bruyette upgraded Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect the company's balance sheet, industry leading position, and potential for accretive acquisitions. The firm raised its target on shares to $75 from $57.
- JPMorgan upgraded Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) to Overweight from Neutral to reflect valuation and industry data points that suggest a pick-up in discretionary spending. The firm has a $30 target on the stock.
- Alcoa (NYSE: AA) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
- East West Bancorp (NASDAQ: EWBC) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.
- Bronco Drilling (NYSE: BDC) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AA, BIG, ED, FDX, MGM, MSFT, SKS ...
Posted Sep 14th 2009 11:20AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Microsoft (MSFT), Motorola (MOT), Alcoa Inc (AA), Analyst initiations, E*TRADE (ETFC)
Analyst upgrades:
- Kaufman Bros. upgraded Computer Sciences (NYSE: CSC) and Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) to Buy from Hold on better demand trends as it believes overall enterprise IT spending is turning more positive. The firm raised its target on Computer Sciences to $62 from $54 and on Cognizant to $45 from $42.
- Citigroup upgraded E-Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC) to Buy from Hold as it believes loan less trends have improved and the company could potentially be acquired. Citi raised its target on shares to $2.30 from $1.50.
- Auriga upgraded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to Buy from Hold as it believes consensus expectations for 2010 are too low, but admits the company's Q1 results could be fairly weak. Auriga believes Microsoft is coming up to its "most powerful product cycle in many years" and raised its price target on shares to $30 from $24.
- Motorola (NYSE: MOT) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
- Fidelity Southern (NASDAQ: LION) was upgraded to Neutral from Reduce at SunTrust.
- Sonoco Products (NYSE: SON) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AA, ETFC, FIATY, MOT, MSFT, POT ...
Posted Aug 19th 2009 11:00AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Walt Disney (DIS), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Alcoa Inc (AA), Gap Inc (GPS), Analyst initiations
Analyst upgrades:
- Keefe Bruyette upgraded Popular (NASDAQ: BPOP) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes the issuance of new common stock in exchange for outstanding preferred and trust preferred stock is a net positive. The firm has a $3.50 target on the stock.
- Merriman upgraded Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI) to Buy from Neutral as if finds the currrent valuation compelling and believes the company should directly benefit from improving IT budgets. The firm thinks fair value is in the $9.11-$11.13 range.
- Kaufman Bros. upgraded Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) to Buy from Hold after its proprietary survey indicated the company is well positioned longer term. The firm finds the valuation on shares attractive at current levels and raised its target price to $53 from $48.
- Taleo (NASDAQ: TLEO) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Janney Montgomery.
- Boardwalk Pipeline (BWP) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill.
- Lloyds Banking (NYSE: LYG) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at RBS.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AA, CI, DIS, GPS, NFLX ...
Posted Jul 6th 2009 9:30AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Ford Motor (F), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Nokia Corp. (NOK), Alcoa Inc (AA), AMR Corp (AMR), S and P 500, Delta Air Lines (DAL)
Quarterly earnings could be up year-over-year by the fourth quarter. A low threshold for improvement, as a result of last year's Q3 financial meltdown, could set the stage for the appearance of a recovery, but the ride from here to there will be a difficult one.
Data from Bloomberg and S&P suggests that profits for stocks comprising the S&P 500 Index may be down 21% next quarter. It's still a double-digit blow, but a better result than Q2's estimated 34% -- and far ahead of Q1's 60% year-over-year fall in profits. The driver of a recovery, however concealed by low expectations, is likely to be a combination of unemployment and consumer spending. Last month, we saw unemployment reach a 26-year high, putting obvious constraints on purchasing.
Continue reading Q2 to be tough on earnings, but some improvement
Posted Jul 5th 2009 12:30PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Alcoa Inc (AA), Chevron Corp (CVX), Family Dollar Stores (FDO), Economic data
The second half of the calendar year has begun, and earnings return to the spotlight this week. As usual, Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) is among the first of the S&P 500 to report quarterly results. For the second quarter in which Alcoa agreed to sell its wire harness and electrical distribution business and its fastening systems business expanded into Morocco, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the New York-based aluminum producer to report swinging to a net loss of $0.34 per share from a profit of $0.66 per share in the year-ago period. Second quarter revenue is expected to have fallen 48.3% to $3.9 billion. The full-year forecast is currently for a loss of $1.04 per share and revenue of $16.7 billion (-38.0%). Alcoa has missed expectations in the past three quarters, by as much as 17 cents per share. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 10.0%, which is better than the sector average. Alcoa slashed its dividend earlier this year, and the First Call consensus recommendation remains to hold AA. However, TheStreet.com recommends it as an against-the-grain pick. At $9.86, shares are down 12.4% since the beginning of the year, and recently have been bumping up against the 200-day moving average.
Continue reading The week in preview: Focus returns to earnings: Alcoa, Chevron, Family Dollar
Posted Apr 29th 2009 1:00PM by Brent Archer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Good news, Alcoa Inc (AA), Options, Technical Analysis
Alcoa (NYSE:
AA -
option chain) shares are rising today after the company announced
it will reduce production at its Portland smelter in Australia by another 38,000 tons in order to cope with declining metals prices. The company already announced a 15,000-ton production cut at that smelter in December. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on AA.
AA opened this morning at $8.71. So far today the stock has hit a low of $8.60 and a high of $8.92. As of 11:05, AA is trading at $8.78, up 0.26 (3.0%). The chart for AA looks bearish and
S&P gives AA a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.
Continue reading Alcoa (AA) cuts output again
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